The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Print Edition
Letter to the editor submissions
Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.
Follow Us on Twitter
Crypto Exchange Listing: Types of Exchanges and Compliance Requirements
March 25, 2024

The crypto industry continues to evolve, fueled by the increasing institutional adoption of crypto. Today, numerous companies are entering the...

Expect the unexpected when traveling abroad

IMG_0214Hello and welcome to my first travel blog post ever! I am excited to share my adventures with you while I am abroad at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. This blog will have a wide array of purposes; Not only will I be posting videos and photos, but I will also give small pieces of advice for students who are looking to study abroad or travel.

I am being rude, I really should introduce myself. My name is Michelle Buser and am a second semester sophomore at Colorado State University studying Communications and Women Studies. 

Ad

Like I said above, I chose to study abroad in Sydney, Australia for six months and will be posting blogs every Monday and Friday. So lets just jump right in!

Exactly one week before I am supposed to depart from the U.S., my worst nightmare became a reality. Before I started any of the packing, I decided to sit down and go through all of the legal paper work needed to get into another country. I opened my shabby green folder that I have been keeping all of my study abroad papers in and I laid out all the important documents: My visa, conformation of enrollment and letter of offer from Macquarie University, and colored copies of my passport.

As I was looking over my papeFullSizeRenderrwork I realized I was missing the most important item I needed to travel abroad…my passport. I have seven days until I am supposed to leave the country and after tearing my whole house apart, I realized I had missed placed my passport…no, completely lost my passport.

My passport was missing and it was Superbowl Sunday. This makes the process of finding it and replacing it even more difficult because no government office is open on a Sunday. After hours of frantically searching the internet for possible solutions to this horrific problem we found two resolutions, but both solutions were going to cost a lot of time and a lot of money. Since it was a Sunday there was nothing we were able to do until Monday, so my parents and I decided to relax and enjoy the Superbowl (Yay Broncos!). 

Monday morning at 6:00am we called the Colorado Passport Agency and were able to get an appointment to replace my passport…hopefully. Even though this was very inconvenient because the Agency is in Denver and I live two hours South of Denver, we were going to do anything we had to in order to get me on that plane Sunday.

FullSizeRender-1

Before I completely gave up hope on my lost passport, I decided to call one last place where it could possibly be, CSUPD.  It was a miracle! They had my passport. Right then I called my mom and dad and we celebrated like there was no tomorrow. Later that day, my dad and I drove 7 hours total to retrieve my passport from CSUPD, but the drive was totally worth it! 

When traveling abroad, never think that these kind of things won’t happen to you because that’s what I thought, and look what happened to me! I never thought in a million years I would lose the most important document I needed for this trip.

Always be ready for the unexpected when you are getting ready to travel or are traveling, and the biggest piece of advice I can give you, is allow people to help you. Even though you may think of yourself as an adult, having someone by your side during moments like this is extremely helpful. 

Ad

I would also like to give a shout out to the amazing students we have at CSU. Thank you to whoever turned in my passport, you saved my family and me a lot of time and money! 

And to think that my trip hasn’t even begun yet! 

Cheerio!

Collegian Travel Blogger Michelle Buser can be reached online at blogs@collegian.com, on Instagram at @Michelle_Buser or on Twitter at @buser_michelle.

View Comments (4)
More to Discover

Comments (4)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.
All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *